Garden Party Public Art

I really wanted to steer clear from any specific squirrel themes. The pieces I had seen in this public art project that had been painted by other artists already had that angle covered. So I thought more along the lines of a tiny funky mural. What would be cool that could stand out against the natural browns and greens of the park?

Summer foods are super bright colors, and one thing I was thinking about was to make each piece of the table a different picnic basket item.

Rainbow Dreams Squirrel Table

Along with those same bright fun vibes, I thought a tiny mural of a super happy sun with a big funky rainbow would be amazing.

When I paint rainbows, I like to put lots of different weather elements in; I was going to add clouds and a few raindrops in as well to break up the standard stripey colors.

Little Free Squirrel Library

This was an idea I ended up not working with… It was adorable, and totally interactive, but too close to the squirrel themes other artists had already used.

My thought was I could put some kind of tray or edging along the table to hold peanuts in place. That would turn it into a “take a peanut, leave a peanut” community service type of little free library. For squirrels.

I still love this idea.

It’s a Wonderful Day to Get Eaten

This is one of those super fun images I’ve been coming up with forever. Everything is bright colors and happy times but oh hey that super cute alligator is eating someone.

Oh wow.

That guy is having a bad day.

I’ll be honest – I still love this concept a ton. It ended up not working out because I didn’t feel like painting little tiny detail work the day I started painting my table.

Shark Attack Table

I started really thinking of this being an interactive squirrel piece while sketching concepts for this public art project. What would be funny or interesting for the squirrel to be doing if he was sitting on this table?

What if the squirrel had to grab peanuts from the jaws of a hungry great white shark? That’s something you don’t see in a Henry County park every day!

But the inside of that mouth would be lots of darker colors, and it ended up not fitting my need to have this piece stand out from the trees around it.

Public Art Beach Vacation

I thought it might be fun to make a beach vacation scene for a squirrel social media influencer; I could paint up the seats of the picnic table like beach towels, and paint a selfie-worthy beach scene in the background. Big important squirrels around town can snap the perfect photo to share with their millions of followers.

Then I started thinking about how people visiting the park might get upset that these little squirrels have beach selfie backgrounds and they don’t. Maybe that would start an epic people vs. squirrel battle…

I decided to take it another direction.

Surfin’ USA Picnic Table

I let the sketches marinate in my brains. Then I asked my Instagram followers what their favorite sketch was, I started to slowly narrow things down.

I didn’t want to do another literal squirrel reference. It needed to have bright colors. Fun and funky, and not too detailed to paint is what the doctor ordered…

The beach concept was so cool because it forces the squirrel into a different setting, but I wanted to pull back from the original social media reference… So I changed up the beach theme to be a way for the squirrel on this picnic table to be transported on a beach vacation adventure!

He’s there to pick up some peanuts left by a friendly park guest, and woooosh he’s instantly transported to hangin’ ten, catching a huge wave at the beach!

Here’s what the squirrel picnic tables look like out in the wild! This is one of the coolest tables I’ve seen (that I didn’t paint lol), and it’s military themes made it perfect for Heritage Park.

I’m not sure where my own picnic table will live, but I’ll be sure to update this post when I find out! I can’t wait to see some photos of surfing squirrels!